High
(School)
sticking
www.highschoolsticking.lohudblogs.com
ICE
HOCKEY
IN THE
LOWER
HUDSON
VALLEY
WITH
HAROLD
GUTMANN
March
13, 2009
Coach John Orlando was gracious enough to provide some information on the 1992 Suffern team that will be inducted into the New York State High School Hockey Hall of Fame tomorrow, and I’m leaving the floor to him. This afternoon I’ll be back with semifinal previews and I’ll also respond to all comments and e-mails that were sent to me over the past 48 hours.
The season started about seven or eight years ago[ 1985-86 ]when Sport-O- Rama gave us free ice time at 6 AM on Sunday mornings to rebuild our feeder program. Over 2/3rds. of the players on this team started then with borrowed lacrosse helmets and gloves, the real “Bad News Bears”.
Would
they
ever
make it?
Fifteen
weeks of
early
rising
set the
tone.
They
were
dedicated. What
follows
is a
recollection
of a set
of
circumstances
over the
last two
seasons.
Injuries,
death in
a
family,
sickness
and
losses [
we
started
the
season
3-3 ]
led to
the
elusive
State
Championship.
With
the
players
all
back.
Steve
Lofberg,
the
Father
of T.J.
Lofberg
arranged
a trip
to
Norway
to play
in the
Jar
Tournament
in Oslo.
What
an
unbelievable
experience.
Our
first
hurdle
was the
plane
trip, 10
hours
over the
Atlantic-
10 first
time
flyers-
a lot of
white
knuckles.
Courage!
some
found
it.
We
win the
tournament.
Our kids
played
great.
We win
the
hearts
of the
Norwegians
with
hard-skilled
play.
The
trip was
more
than
just
hockey.
We came
together
as a
team
more
than
ever
before.
Improvised
hockey,
as our
Norwegian
friends
call it,
30 boys
on a
huge
outdoor
rink,
exchanging
jerseys,
mixing
up
teams,
playing
with no
refs, 2
to 3
hours
under
the
stars,
for pure
sport,
played
for the
fun of
it until
exhaustion
sets in.
After
the
tournament
we then
toured
Norway.
Our most
memorable
aspect
was a
trip to
a
sculpture
park.
The
theme
was from
birth to
death.
Our boys
entered
the park
giggling
but as
our
guide
started
to
explain
the
statues
the mood
changed
drastically.
Fun,
life,
death,
struggles,
relationships
and how
people
handle
these
are
depicted.
We all
emerged
from
those 80
acres as
slightly
different
people.
I
took
sick
after
the trip
and my
assistants,
John
Rostawanik,
Mitch
Resnick
and John
Yurcik
took
over and
led the
team. I
feel it
made us
a better
team as
the boys
had to
overcome
another
adversity
and
stand on
their
own. The
team
started
cooking.
Our young defenseman were getting better [Sheehan, Rostawanik]. Our big line [Chapman,White,Doyle ] another line [Lofberg,Stevens Taylor] were smoking. Our yearling line [Stecz, Murphy, Gordon,Greg] was emrging as a force. Cerebona [ goalie] Adam Gordon [defense] were ROCK-SOLID in front of the net.
Our
red
line[
Flament,
Cohen,
Greenhut,
Marguiles,
Condon
and
Haugeto]
was
possessed
in
practice
and made
everybody
work
hard.
Our
back-up
goalies
[Goldstein
and
Cunningham]
were
pressuring
the
shooters.
We
never
lost
another
game
that
season
when we
returned
from
Norway
and won
the
section
championship.
17
straight
victories
concluded
the
season.
State
tournament
1/4
finals a
10-3
victory
over
Monroe-Woodbury,
a
semi-final
victory
over
Seton
Catholic
3-2 and
a 4-3
O’T win
over
Massena
in what
some
will say
was the
most
exciting
final in
state
history.
The
championship
game had
many
heroes.
Cerebona
in goal,
Adam
Gordon
played
the
entire
45
minutes
on
defense,
John
Chapman
went
from
center
to
defense
and
played
about 41
minutes.
Chapman,
Taylor
and
Doyle
shut
Massena
down and
White,
Stevens
and
Lofberg
did most
of the
scoring.
Rob
Stevens
scored
the game
tier goal
on
assists
from
Lofberg
and
White
with 39
seconds
left
after
the
goalie
was
pulled.
Rob Stevens was then sprung free on a pass from Danny White and blasted the game winner from just inside the blue line in overtime.